The Latin Language

Latin was, at one time, an international language. It was spoken throughout the entire maroon area shown in the map at the right. Greek was still the language of high culture, used in literature and the arts. Romans would even hire Greek wet-nurses due to the belief that it would lead to the infant learning Greek. Latin, however, became the language of law and government throughout the Roman Empire.

The Roman philosopher and linguist Cicero said: "The Latins initially were a rural people who started with a vocabulary of 250 words and began to draw loads of vocabulary from the Greek language." (Plutarch's Parallel Lives), while the famous French linguist Meillet said, "During the time of the Emperor Augustus, 10,000 words slipped from Greek into Latin.”

Rome's Contributions to Modern Languages

"Latin is a dead language,As dead as it can be:First it killed the Romans,And now it's killing me!"

British schoolboys used to write this in their textbooks during their Latin classes. They were largely correct. Latin is, however, used in law for many legal terms. Biological species are given international scientific names in Latin. Scientists have a Latin name for just about everything. But Latin's most important legacy is the Romance languages. Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian and Romanian are all Romance languages. They are so-called because they all have their roots in Latin, the language of the Romans. The map at left shows that the Romance languages cover much of modern-day Europe.

The Influence of Latin on the English Language

English is not a Romance language. However, because of the conquest of Britain by the French-speaking Normans in 1066, English today has a strong Latin/French flavour. As indicated in the pie cart to the left, over half of English words come either directly or indirectly from the Latin language.

The Use of Latin in the Vatican

The official language of the Catholic Church in the city state of the Vatican has always been Latin, even though it has disappeared as a national language from other countries in the rest of the world. Of course, the Latin language has to be updated to keep it current. Here are a few new words from the 2003 LexiconRecentis Latinitatis: